My pledges have dried up. How can I reinvigorate my campaign?

A mid-campaign slowdown in pledges is normal. The key is to keep this period short by planning new activities and mobilising your existing backers.

In almost all crowdfunding campaigns there will come a time where pledges slow down. Perhaps it's because you've exhausted the audiences you've been targeting, or maybe it's the messages you're using which are not hooking new backers. Either way, you may find that your campaign needs a bit of a boost in order to give it fresh impetus and hopefully power you all the way to your target.

What we don't want to happen is to allow a slump in your campaign to become terminal. This can happen if you don't act quickly! Luckily there are some sure-fire ways to get your campaign going again. Here are our suggestions:

1) Post updates on your project page. The Spacehive update tool has the twofold benefit of communicating to your existing backers, while also making your project page look busy and up to date for anyone visiting your project for the first time. Try and be honest and open, say that you are looking for new backers, or use it to promote upcoming campaign activity...

2) Run some events. This could be a pledge party, or a more traditional cake sale, or something that links to the type of project you are proposing. Your event should aim to create real-life connections with your crowd, and make them feel more invested in your project's success. It should also be an opportunity to raise money, whether that's through direct pledges (for example if you set up a laptop where people can make a pledge), or through selling raffle tickets, cakes, drinks etc.

3) Move any offline funds into your campaign. If you have raised any money towards your project which is not currently showing in your campaign, then now is the time to add it. Sometimes backers are reluctant to pledge to campaigns if they think they are struggling to hit their target. However a backer may not know the full picture if the project has funds offline that they are waiting to pledge. By adding these funds into your campaign, you take yourself closer to your target and give backers more motivation to want to get behind you. Make sure you read our short Help article on adding funds raised offline to your campaign.

4) Search social media for new people to reach. Our guide to finding people in your area on Facebook and Twitter is all you need here! Remember to think about the message you are saying at this stage - your campaign is not new, you've already got support, so remind people that if they like the project and want it to happen, they need to back it!

5) Go back to any friends, family, project team and colleagues who haven't yet pledged. Lots of people say they will pledge when you first contact them, but then life gets in the way and they don't get round to it. Go back to them now and ask again. You can be honest and say that your campaign is in a bit of a slump and that getting these pledges, no matter how small, will really help now.